


by the grace of the fire and the flames

by invaderssayni



Series: it's times like these [5]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: Biting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Kissing, M/M, Swearing, brief instance of dubious consent, but it's pretty quickly resolved, ghetsis is still a douchecanoe news at 11, more artistic liberties y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 17:32:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11537052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/invaderssayni/pseuds/invaderssayni
Summary: Touya turns to face them, blinking like a startled hoothoot. “Sorry, what?”Cheren sighs. “Are you planning on summoning your truth dragon and fighting your boyfriend sometime today, or do we need to reschedule the possible end of the world as we know it?”





	by the grace of the fire and the flames

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry again that this took so long, you guys! I'm not gonna go into details here, but suffice it to say that there's been a lot going on in my life right now that's made it difficult for me to get this written. There is one more part to this series, and I will get it posted at some point, but I honestly couldn't tell you when that will be. I'll also be doing a few edits to earlier parts of this series for general readability, etc., so if you notice some minor changes, that's why.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

Cheren swears under his breath, glancing at the clock on his Xtransceiver for the thousandth time as he sprints up the stairs. Why did he think it was a good idea to focus so much on defensive strategies, again? Status effect trolling might be a decent substitute for super-effective moves, but it's not a fast one by any means, and now he's so late it's beginning to get dark. If he’d had any sense, he thinks ruefully, he would have trained a mienshao for his league challenge instead of —

He hears a rumbling noise from below and stops abruptly. What now?

The noise gets louder — the stairs are shaking, and he’s suddenly glad he's not near the edge — then stops entirely.

He frowns and attempts to peek over the sides without actually moving any closer to them.

A vast shape suddenly bursts from the ground, large enough to surround the entire League complex — clumps of dirt and rocks fall tumble off the sides as lightning crashes across the sky — and Cheren stumbles, raising an arm to shield his eyes. 

Is that a _building_?

He barely has time to process the building’s existence before several panels fall away from the exterior walls — one bounces off the staircase about thirty feet behind him — and large metal ramps burst from the gaps, striking the mountain that forms the center of the League. Clouds of dust rise from the collisions as parts of the stone building at the top crumble away.

Cheren blinks.

He blinks again.

 _What_.

He shakes his head and continues running up the last flight of steps, dodging bits of rubble. He can contemplate the purpose of Plasma’s trademark melodrama later.

 

“Oh…”

Cheren skids to an abrupt halt as he reaches the Champion’s battle room. He was expecting a lot of damage, but this is just…

Touya appears to be even more baffled by the suddenly-appearing building than Cheren is, from what he can tell — he’s standing completely still, eyes wide and staring up the ramp directly in front of him, repeatedly whispering “what the fuck” in varied inflections.

Cheren dismisses this. Touya will probably be fine in a moment or two once he’s had a chance to process everything, and honestly, he doesn't disagree with him.

Alder, however…

Cheren bites his lip, evaluating. Frankly, Alder looks like he hasn't slept in about a week. (Which, he realises, is entirely possible — it's been at least that long since he’s seen him, and Alder had barely slept _then_.) He’s got a few visible scrapes, his persistent stubble has grown out into an honest-to-Arceus _beard_ , and most of the right half of his body’s covered in dust, but that's the least of Cheren’s concern. What really worries him is the shaking in his hands. The unsteady, halting rhythm of his breathing. The distant look in his eyes, like he's not really here…

Did he actually _lose_? 

Cheren rushes over to him and begins fussing over his (admittedly superficial) injuries. Sure, he can fix a minor scrape with compression and a bandage, but he thinks the rest might be a bit more difficult. “What happened? You're an absolute wreck, let me, come on,” he mutters, gently pushing down on his shoulder in hopes he’ll move and Cheren will actually be able to reach his head.

Rather than ducking obligingly or sitting down like he was expecting, however, Alder looks at him with unidentifiable emotions warring on his face and pulls Cheren into a tight embrace. He makes a surprised noise — although, really, he should’ve expected it, he knows Alder’s big on physical affection — but reciprocates, murmuring nonsense at him about how it's alright, he's fine, and everything’s going to be okay. 

“I’m sorry,” Alder says hoarsely, pulling away and clearing his throat. “Look at you, making it all the way here. You should be proud of yourself, and your pokémon.”

Cheren makes a noise that might be a laugh, he’s not entirely sure. “I wasn't sure I was going to make it. Especially once I got to Grimsley — you could've warned them all about this, by the way, I kept having to explain why everyone and their grandmother was challenging the League today.”

“....Right. I knew I was forgetting something.”

“You know what else you forgot to do?” Cheren asks pointedly, looking up at him. “Sleep.”

“Yeah, that…” Alder laughs bitterly. “That wasn't going to happen. I couldn't even sleep through the night with you there, never mind by myself. Haven't been able to shut my brain up long enough.”

“You should have said something,” he says with a frown. “I’d have lent you Mau, he knows yawn.”

Alder pauses. “Does he?”

Cheren nods. “I may, possibly, have been relying on that to get any sleep.”

“Well, I couldn’t have taken him, then,” he says, “you can’t very well go without sleep.”

“I suppose we’d have just had to sleep together,” Cheren says solemnly, getting a genuine laugh out of Alder. “For the good of the Unova region, of course.” 

“Oh, of course,” he says, then shrugs, continuing in a more serious tone. “It wouldn't have made a difference, anyway. I ran the numbers: The odds of my vanilluxe taking out Zekrom in one hit were slim at best even with an expert belt, and they're not really sturdy enough to withstand an attack. Hell, Drayden’s normal, non-legendary haxorus has been known to knock her out with one brick break.”

“Your druddigon would be too slow to land an attack at all,” Cheren says slowly, trying to work through strategies based on what he knows of Alder’s team. “Even if you’d had something to set up a Trick Room beforehand… Or…”

“Probably wouldn't have mattered.” He runs a hand through his hair, frowning at the large amount of dust this releases. “Stupid cheating-ass legendary dragon bullshit. It’s disrespectful, is what it is. You spend years building a team, working out strategies and dedicating all this time and effort, and some brat just comes in with an overpowered mythical pokémon and one-shots all five of our teams without even trying? Who does that? That doesn’t prove a damn thing, other than the fact that pokémon who some people worship as _gods_ should be banned in competitive battle!” 

Oh, right. Cheren looks around, mildly surprised to see Touya still swearing at the ramp. “Speaking of legendary dragon bullshit, Touya, shouldn't you be going?”

Touya turns to face them, blinking like a startled hoothoot. “Sorry, what?”

Cheren sighs. “Are you planning on summoning your truth dragon and fighting your boyfriend sometime today, or do we need to reschedule the possible end of the world as we know it?”

“Yeah, no, I’m going, it’s just…” Touya trails off, looking uncharacteristically nervous. “What if it doesn't work?”

“Then we’re all fucked,” he says bluntly. “But it’s the only shot we have, so, get going.” He makes a shooing motion with his hands. 

Touya rolls his eyes. “Wow, thanks for the A-plus motivational speech, Cherry. I’m really feeling good about my chances now,” he replies with mock enthusiasm.

He shrugs unapologetically. “Fine, you calm Alder down and I’ll take the stone, summon the dragon, and order Reshiram to bite both Harmonias’ heads off.”

“How long do you think it takes to fly here from Kalos?” he asks thoughtfully, then brightens. “Or, hey, maybe Bianca could do it!”

“You’ve got the best chance of any of us,” Cheren points out. “And if it looks like you’re losing, you can always, well, distract him.”

“Oh, now the truth comes out about the great Cheren Yamaguchi’s unbeatable battle strategies,” Touya teases, huffing out a shaky laugh. “‘Just seduce your opponent if you need an advantage.’ No wonder you can never beat me!”

“Considering N just beat the Champion without even trying,” he says evenly, “I would imagine you’re going to need every advantage you can get. If you have to use his feelings for you to win, do it.”

He sobers quickly at that. “Fair point. Good luck with, uh…” He nods at Alder, who's leaning against a broken pillar and staring at what’s left of the ceiling.

“You too,” he says with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. “I’ll figure something out, probably.”

“You could always seduce him,” Touya jokes weakly. Cheren just raises an eyebrow, and he hastily backs towards the ramp. “Right, well, I’ve got a dragon to slay. Later!” 

Cheren rolls his eyes and turns his attention back to the task in front of him: namely, talking Alder off the edge of the metaphorical — and possibly also literal — cliff.

 

Well, he amends, hearing a commotion outside, his immediate task is to redirect what appears to be every gym leader in Unova into the massive building surrounding the League complex. It’s not as if there's anything for them to do here, and Touya could probably use the help. He's able to herd them out fairly quickly with the exception of Drayden, who pauses on his way out to tell him he needs to help Alder. 

“We’re going to need him,” he says gruffly, glancing at the man half-hidden by rubble. “He knows better than any of us what Harmonia’s capable of.”

Which is probably true, Cheren realises, mind flashing back to the incident at Relic Castle. He's gathered that Alder was once quite close to Ghetsis, although it’s not something Alder likes to talk about. Still, if Ghetsis really has a hydreigon, and it does come down to fighting him, having someone who knows how his mind works would be invaluable.

Except that Cheren's never been particularly good at comforting people. Or, if he's being honest, at people in general. That was always Bianca’s area, but Bianca’s not here. He may not know much about dealing with feelings, but he knows Alder pretty well, so… maybe he can sort of muddle through?

He hesitantly picks his way across the rubble and sits down next to Alder, spending several moments trying to come up with something to say before Alder breaks the silence.

“You know, I’m not even really surprised; we were done the minute he sent out that stupid dragon,” he mutters darkly. “I don’t care that he beat me — I mean, I do, but there I was, the Unova League champion twelve years running, thinking maybe I could at least take down one of his pokemon? But no. He leads with fucking _Zekrom_. What am I supposed to do with that?” 

“I mean, it could’ve been worse,” Cheren says, because he’s not sure what else he could say. “He could’ve gotten Reshiram.”

“And all I can do is just sit here uselessly while someone else fights for the future of the world as we know it, and I just—!” he makes a frustrated noise in his throat and pulls Cheren into a fierce kiss.

Cheren blinks.

Well, he supposes this is a much more pleasant way for Alder to vent his frustrations. 

He tangles a hand in Alder’s wild mane of hair, rising up on his knees to gain some sort of leverage, and kisses him back. No, he definitely has no objections to this. If he’s focusing on doing that thing with his teeth that Alder seems to really like — enough to push him to the ground and start unbuttoning his coat, apparently, not where he saw this going but he’ll take it — then he’s not focusing on the fact that, realistically, he should be booking them both one-way plane tickets to Kanto right now. Because even if —

A jolt of pleasure-pain shoots through him — did Alder just _bite_ him? — and he whimpers, completely losing his previous train of thought. He hears Alder murmur “It’s alright, I’ve got you,” gently kissing him just below his earlobe as he settles between his thighs.

He barely notices the sudden cold as his sweater and shirt are opened and shoved aside, sufficiently distracted by broad, roughened hands moving across his body and finding all his sensitive spots with an efficiency that he's honestly impressed by. The benefits of having an older lover, he supposes. (And he won't lie, he's quickly becoming partial to that ridiculous beard Alder’s accidentally grown. It tickles, but in a pleasant sort of way that he’s surprised to find he really likes.)

Cheren traces slow circles just behind Alder’s ear and watches through half-lidded eyes, breath growing erratic, as the man slowly moves lower, abandoning his neck in favour of sucking bruises onto his collarbones, scattering kisses across his chest that trail down to his stomach — 

He feels the button on his jeans pop open, and that startles him out of the pleasant haze that had been settling into his brain. Since when is Alder the type of guy to just do things like that without asking? “Alder?” he asks in a bemused voice, suddenly thrown off balance. 

The man glances up, darkened violet eyes meeting his own, and icy dread chases the remaining heat from his body. There's something wrong, something _blank_ in those eyes. Arceus, he should have noticed. Should have realised something was off by how _quiet_ he’s been. Cheren tugs urgently on his shirt collar, pushes them both back upright, rattles off rapid-fire questions and apologies. He had gathered that Alder wasn’t entirely in control of himself the minute he walked in, is familiar enough with the concept of wanting to lose yourself in another person rather than face reality. Theoretically, he would’ve had no issue with that, but there’s always been _warmth_ and _affection_ between them, and even if Cheren was willing to settle for an emotionless, efficient orgasm (which he most definitely is _not_ ), he’s pretty sure Alder would kill him — and probably also himself — for letting him continue.

Alder exhales harshly and swears under his breath, ducking his head. “I’m so.” A cough. “I didn’t mean, I wasn’t… Arceus, I’m so sorry, I just, I can’t think, and I can’t do anything useful, and even if your friend defeats N he’s still going to have to…” He falters noticeably, shakes his head, makes himself look up at Cheren. “To stop his father, because we all know he's the mastermind here, and there’s just not… he’s going to try and declare himself emperor or some nonsense, and I should’ve just smothered him with a pillow twenty years ago and saved everyone the trouble, and hell, if anything happened to you…”

“Shh,” he murmurs, pushing Alder’s hair back from his face. “Nothing is going to happen, I promise. Whoever called the gym leaders probably called the police as well, and between all of us we can handle the situation until they show up.”

“Not if we’re dead,” he points out. “He’s definitely capable of killing all of us.”

“So’s a dedicated ducklett,” Cheren says, waving a hand dismissively. “That doesn’t mean he’s going to.”

Alder makes a noncommittal noise, resting his forehead against Cheren’s. “If you say so.”

“I do say so,” he says with more confidence than he feels. “Everything’s going to be fine, and this time tomorrow you’ll be on the beach drinking mai tais.”

Alder snorts. “What, in January?”

Cheren rolls his eyes. “So picky. Okay, fine, how about…” He pauses, then grins, his voice taking on a playful tone. “This time tomorrow, we’ll be working our way through all those rain checks?”

“That a promise?” he murmurs, a hand coming up to toy with the short hair at the base of Cheren’s neck.

“Unless you’d rather reschedule,” he breathes, leaning into the touches. “Say, for now? 

“Weren't you just saying that now wasn't the best time?” Alder says, laughter in his voice.

“Because it wasn't really you,” he explains, “and I want _you_ , not some quiet, emotionless robot that vaguely resembles you! That's not… there's no _point_ , otherwise. I l— “

The rest of his sentence is interrupted by a distant, otherworldly shriek, followed by a roar, and they both scramble to get up and find out what’s going on. 

Cheren is the first to climb outside on the ramp, and his eyes immediately dart to two balls of light in the sky above the castle, bouncing off each other. “He did it!” he shouts, punching the air. “Touya summoned Reshiram!”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Alder says faintly, wrapping his arms around Cheren and resting his chin on his head. “He’s actually going to do it.”

“If he replaced his stoutland with that stupid dragon, I’ll kick his ass myself,” Cheren grumbles as he buttons his shirt.

“He’ll be fine,” Alder murmurs. “You know he can hold his own against N.”

“You’re awfully optimistic all of a sudden,” Cheren says, tilting his head back.

Alder shrugs. “Well, he did summon Reshiram. That puts them on an even footing. Which leaves…”

“Yeah.” He frowns. “We should maybe go help?”

“Do we have to?”

“We have to,” Cheren says firmly, pulling away. “There’s no one else left to send.”

“Yeah,” he sighs, resigned. “I just… did you want this back?” he asks abruptly, pulling a cord necklace from under his shirt. “Luck, and all? Since clearly it didn’t help me?”

He blinks, surprised that Alder’s actually wearing it. Superstition’s a hell of a thing, he supposes with a mental shrug. “Luck had nothing to do with it,” he says finally, tearing his eyes away from the wooden togepi charm. “I don’t know that even a critical Blizzard would’ve taken it down in one go. Probably only Reshiram is meant to be able to stand against Zekrom. Yin and yang, and all that.”

Alder considers this. “Some kind of destiny thing, recreating the legend?” He shrugs. “Could be. Makes me feel better about it, anyway.”

“I thought it might.” Cheren smiles briefly up at him and grabs his hand. “Come on, then. The sooner we start, and all that.”

He manages about three steps before he looks down and abruptly freezes.

_there’s no ground where is the ground_

“Oh,” he says faintly.

“Are you okay?”

He grips Alder’s hand tightly. He thinks he’s going to pass out. “Okay. Okay, holy crap. Nope. I’m not doing that. No way in hell.”

A pause. “Sweetheart?”

“There are _no railings_ and I’m going to _fall off_ and I’m going to _die_ ,” he manages to get out in one breath.

“Oh, hell, don’t look down, just…” 

The next moment Cheren has his face buried in Alder’s poncho and he clings to the other man like a lifeline. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this, I actually have a sense of self-preservation and I don’t want to kill myself falling off this sorry excuse for a bridge.”

“Shh, it’s okay, I’ve got you,” he murmurs soothingly. “What if I carry you, would that help?”

“As long as I don’t have to open my eyes,” he replies, voice muffled by gritted teeth and wool. Actually, he’s not entirely sure he’d trust himself to walk on solid ground right now, never mind across that nonsensical death trap cleverly disguising itself as a platform.

“Come on, then, up.” Alder swings him up into his arms and carries on walking with barely a pause. “How have you managed on your journey? I know you’ve had to be in high places before.”

“Well, for one thing, scaling a mountain — which, by the way, has to pass League safety checks because everyone cuts through it — where I have a wall on one side and ground in sight is totally different from a two-foot-wide angled ramp with no railings across a gaping chasm,” he says tersely. 

“That’s fair,” Alder concedes.

“And, well… usually I’ll have Cleo out, like when I was at Twist Mountain, so she can grab me with her vines if I slip. And if she doesn’t catch me, I have Horus to fly me back up. Well… in theory.” He shudders. “A theory which I have no desire to test, not to put too fine a point on it.”

“I’m not going to drop you,” he says calmly. “I could carry you across on one of those wooden walkways they have around Mistralton if I had to.”

Cheren tenses abruptly and buries his face in Alder’s shoulder, snapping, “Oh, thank you so much for putting that image in my head. Because this isn’t terrifying enough already!”

“Sorry,” he apologises hastily. “You’re right, I shouldn't have said that. Just… think about tomorrow. We’re on the beach — “

“In January?”

“We caught a convenient flight to Alola,” he elaborates, and Cheren laughs weakly, “because Hano Beach is always warm and beautiful. And during the day we’ll nap by the ocean, and the hotel staff will bring us drinks every hour.”

He grins, making a pleased noise. “I like this plan. Let's do that.”

“We will,” Alder says. “Maybe not tomorrow, but one day we'll go.”

“We should probably wait on that, actually,” Cheren says slowly. “Now that I think about it.”

“Yeah?”

“Well… if we go to Alola, I’d like to actually _see_ Alola, and I’m pretty sure tourism is going to be the last thing on either of our minds for a while,” he points out.

Alder makes an affirmative noise. “You’re not wrong,” he murmurs, lowering him to the ground — and it’s _tile_ and _not metal_ and there are _walls_ and Cheren's so relieved he pulls Alder down for a kiss. 

“Gods, I love you so much,” Alder says almost unconsciously between kisses, and Cheren’s eyes fly open.

“Do you?” he asks, startled.

“Hmm?”

“You know… actually, legitimately love me,” he says uncertainly, and Alder looks down at him, brow furrowed.

“Course I do,” he says finally, as though it were self-evident. “I’ve said, haven't I?”

“Not… really?” he says, frowning. “I mean, not seriously, at least. I’d have remembered that.”

Alder frowns. “You’re sure?” Cheren nods, and Alder sighs. “Damn. I meant to. Sorry.” He shakes his head in disbelief. “I do, though. Just, you know, for the record.”

“Well, you have had other, more important things on your mind.”

“Not an excuse,” he says firmly. “This isn’t… I don’t want you to think I don’t care about you.”

“Never,” he says. “But we should probably go get this finished before we start in on the declarations and that, or we’ll be here all night.”

“Right,” Alder says after a long pause. “But after this, I am going to write you the worst, most heartfelt love poem in the history of terrible love poetry. I’ll get a megaphone and recite it in the middle of rush hour in Castelia City.”

Cheren snickers. “Now you’re just being silly.”

“Well, yes,” he concedes, “but the sentiment is real. Now, let’s get this over with before you distract me again.”

He rolls his eyes fondly and follows Alder down the hall.

 

“What’s to be gained from letting go of useful things like pokémon?”

Alder groans, coming to an abrupt halt in front of an ornate doorway. “Oh, wonderful. He’s monologuing. Because that’s exactly what today was missing.”

Cheren sighs and pulls him into the room. Ghetsis doesn’t notice their appearance at first, although Touya turns and gives them a strange look before returning his attention to his boyfriend, who appears to be having some sort of episode.

“So, naturally, it follows that only I should be able to use pokémon!”

Alder can’t hold back an incredulous laugh. “What kind of bullshit? That’s ridiculous, even for you!”

“Oh, and look,” Ghetsis says scathingly, “it’s the _former_ champion and his pet _catamite_. Even _they_ could predict your inevitable failure, you useless child!”

N flinches at this, and Touya’s hand inches toward his belt. “Yeah? See, that’s so funny, because literally no one asked you. Did you ever consider, like, trying to do this yourself, if everything he does is so wrong? Because they say that if you want something done right — ”

“You think because Reshiram chose you, that makes you a threat?” Ghetsis screeches. “Deity or not, a pokémon is a pokémon! You won’t be so smug when you face ME in battle!”

“Damn it, Harmonia, be reasonable for once in your godsforsaken life!” Alder explodes, clearly more than ready to have this whole business over with. “Your Sages have been defeated, Zekrom and N have lost to Reshiram and Touya — your plans failed! Accept the loss and move on!”

“Move on?” Ghetsis says icily. “For a quarter of a century I have been awaiting this day. You, of all people, know this. How carefully laid my plans have been. How much I have… sacrificed.” He pauses delicately, left arm disappearing briefly under his robes. “And you believe I can simply… move on? What a fascinating insight into the mind of a born failure.”

“Brave words from a man who’s never told the truth or held an ideal in his life,” Alder says flatly. “And you haven’t considered retiring from the cartoon supervillain gig to spend quality time with your remaining limbs, really get to know your shiny new prosthetic — which is much nicer than the last one, by the way. Or, here’s an idea, you could take a nice, long nap! Actually, you know what, let’s all go and take a nice, long nap, and come back and talk this over like reasonable adults, shall we?”

“I’m in,” Touya says immediately, raising his hand. N nods slowly, eyes closed, looking like he was just on the wrong end of a snorlax’s giga impact. 

“I will do no such thing!” Ghetsis shouts, and Touya and N groan simultaneously. 

“Well, I tried,” Alder says in an undertone, tilting his head in an approximation of a shrug.

“The only thing I desire is the absolute rule of Unova! I bided my time, I built an army, I orchestrated _that boy’s_ selection as the Hero of Ideals — Arceus knows he was always too soft-hearted for Truth —” Cheren hears an outraged whisper of “Soft-hearted!” and a shushing noise “— and I won’t allow anyone to stand in my way! _No matter what_!” 

And with that, Ghetsis releases all his pokémon simultaneously, and everything goes to hell.

 

“He can’t do that,” Cheren says faintly, eye-to-eye with the rumoured hydreigon — wearing a metal collar inlaid with _oh fuck that’s a life orb they’re all going to die_ — and five other, equally intimidating pokémon. “It’s against League regulations.”

“Yeah, somehow I don’t think he cares!” Touya shouts, throwing a poké ball. “Come on, send out a pokémon!”

It’s like there's some disconnect between his brain and his body — intellectually, he knows what those words mean and that they require a response from him, but he can't make the leap from that to actually doing anything more than standing there, gaping like a magikarp. How in the hell has Touya been doing things like this all the time? If he’d been in his place he’d be dead by now.

A bug buzz attack from his left hits the hydreigon, drawing its attention away from him, and he can breathe again. Okay. He can do this. He's fought cofagriguses before, he's fought seismitoads… he can actually do something to help out here. Cofagrigus is bound to have status moves and take ages to go down because of that, but should otherwise be simple enough — surely Touya can deal with that on his own? — so he turns his attention to the seismitoad because he knows Touya doesn’t have a grass type. Theoretically, he should be able to take it out in one or two hits with an attack from Cleo, but that feels too easy. Ghetsis would be an idiot not to expect grass. Or would he expect his opponent would expect it, and… he's going to give himself a headache. He shakes his head and sends out Cleo anyway, ordering a leaf storm. Maybe they'll outspeed it?

Their attack does land first, but Cleo is subsequently engulfed in a wave of purple sludge, and Cheren groans. Poison move. He knew there had to be something. At least — he frowns, squinting intently at the two pokemon — no, Cleo’s not poisoned, and if she’s faster… “Leaf blade, it’ll have to be,” he mutters, then repeats the attack louder for his serperior’s benefit. It’s not as if Ghetsis is bothering to pay attention to him, he’s too busy screaming at his bouffalant to charge Touya’s samurott. 

She slithers quickly towards the frog pokemon, zigzagging so rapidly Cheren can barely track her —

He’s abruptly hit with a headbutt so powerful it knocks him over, and for a terrifying moment he honestly thinks the hydreigon’s gotten bored with Alder’s volcarona and decided to have a light snack —

But whatever hits him makes a vibrating, rustling noise that is absolutely nothing like a hydreigon’s cry, and he turns mid-fall to see an accelgor now firmly attached to his shoulder _and a jet of blue light precisely where his head had been a second ago holy shit_

Well, he thinks hysterically as he lands on his backside, he was half right. 

He breathes heavily and pets the accelgor that he’s about ninety-three percent sure belongs to Alder, dimly aware of the battle continuing around him. He can hear Ghetsis and Touya shouting, Solaris making outraged shrieking noises as she retaliates against the hydreigon with a hyper beam… Cleo nudges Cheren’s other shoulder and he pats her head absently. Okay. Okay, he needs to calm down, and he needs to focus, or he really is going to die. 

Actually… He narrows his eyes, reaching for one of the remaining poké balls at his belt. “Know what, Cleo?” He says, staring at the vast, scarred dragon pokémon snarling at Alder’s volcarona. “Ghetsis Harmonia’s not the only one who can train a dragon.” She hisses at him, and he grins. “Yes, I think it’s time. Sese, alpha two!” He flings the ball as hard as he can, and watches with grim satisfaction as a haxorus pops out and immediately launches into an outrage cycle. 

Alder looks around, startled by the dragon’s sudden appearance, and locks eyes with Cheren. He gestures at the haxorus and tilts his head questioningly, and Cheren points at himself, nodding in confirmation. Alder barks out a triumphant laugh and turns to his volcarona, throwing her a berry and shouting instructions Cheren can’t quite make out. Solaris flutters around the two dragons, firing off bug buzz attacks wherever Sese leaves an opening and darting between them to take any return volleys from the hydreigon. As his outrage cycle comes to an end, Solaris hits it from behind with another hyper beam, distracting the hydreigon so Sese can finish by eating his persim berry, negating the customary confusion. 

The hydreigon lashes out against Solaris with surf, and Cheren can’t help but think: really, Ghetsis didn’t teach his hydreigon a rock move? He supposes there was no way to predict having to fight Alder, but still… “Beta three, and keep going!” He shouts belatedly, an idea forming in his head. If they can just get the timing right… 

Sese begins to strike at the hydreigon with x-scissor, and Cheren bounces impatiently on the ground as he waits for hyper beam’s cooldown period to end. “Come on, Solaris…” he whispers anxiously. “Let’s go… get up…”

It feels to him like an eternity passes before the volcarona recovers, but eventually she flutters back into the fray, and Cheren exhales in relief. Now it’s just a matter of playing the waiting game. Eventually, he thinks, the odds will be in their favour, and —

He jumps to his feet as his idea comes to fruition; Solaris’ bug buzz and Sese’s x-scissor hit the dragon simultaneously, and it sways precipitously.

And falls.

“Yes!” Cheren exclaims, running over to his haxorus and hugging him. “Good job, Sese!” Solaris makes a soft chirping noise, and he grins, petting her. “You too, Solaris. I’m very proud of both of you.” 

Something taps him on the shoulder, and he spins around, finding himself abruptly in Alder’s arms. Cheren makes a pleased noise and goes up on tiptoe, pulling him down into a searing kiss. He can feel the man’s fingernails at the back of his neck — he moans softly and bites Alder’s lip — Alder picks him up, pulls him closer, hands running over his body as if to make sure he’s still in one piece, murmurs questions at him in between kisses, “I thought that hydreigon was going to kill you, I was so worried, when did you get a haxorus, are you sure you’re okay” —

A loud wolf whistle cuts through the euphoric haze clouding both of their minds, rudely reminding them that they are not, in fact, the only two people in the world. Or in the room.

“That was utterly revolting,” a voice says, and Cheren breaks the embrace to see Ghetsis grimacing on the far side of the room. “I would prefer to go to prison than have to look at that again.”

“Hope you don’t have Pokégram, then,” Touya says vaguely, tapping on his phone screen.

Cheren groans at that. “Touya, please tell me you didn’t just post that on the internet.”

“I didn’t just post that on the internet.”

“ _Touya_ ,” he says through gritted teeth, rapidly crossing the room. 

“Really, all I did was text Touko she owes me fifty bucks! And don’t we have bigger problems?” Touya asks nervously, ducking behind N. “Like, I dunno, sending Ghetsis to jail?”

He sighs, not really in the mood to get into another fight right now. “Sure, sure. But I’d better not see this online, Touya, I’m serious.” 

Not that he really cares if people know about him and Alder, but he doubts Alder wants millions of strangers prying into his personal life. And, honestly, he’d rather his parents not find out he’s seeing someone from the evening news.

(Of course, he’d rather not tell them at all, but he supposes they’ll have to meet Alder eventually. At their hypothetical future wedding — which he totally hasn’t been thinking about for the past week — if nothing else.)

Alder wanders over, shoving something into his back pocket. “Police are down in the atrium, and apparently they want me to escort this one,” he points at Ghetsis, “downstairs. Because that’s in my job description. Fill out paperwork, approve gym leaders, accept challenges from trainers, arrest cultists…” He trails off, rolling his eyes. “You all don’t have to come with me, but I wouldn’t recommend staying here. Go on vacation, or something. You’ve all earned it.”

“I’m going to go home and sleep for at least a week,” Touya says, looking hopefully up at N. “Which you are more than welcome to join me for?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Ghetsis interjects. “Will you stop talking to that warped little boy as if it’s a real person?”

“Anyway,” Alder says, pointedly turning his back on him and looking at N. “What are your plans for after this? I know you might have some trouble adjusting after, well, all of this — ”

“He doesn’t understand what it means to be a human!”

“So if you ever need any help, or advice — ” Alder continues, voice steadily increasing in volume.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” N demands. “After everything I’ve done?”

“It’s not your fault you were raised by Ghetsis,” he says with a shrug, “and having different opinions from me doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. You want pokémon to live happy lives, and eliminate abusive trainer-pokémon relationships, right? There are ways to work towards that world without completely throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

N blinks in confusion. “Without doing _what_?”

“He’s nothing but a freak without a human heart!” Ghetsis shouts. “You can’t get through to someone like that!”

Cheren turns to face Ghetsis, eyes flashing. “You’re nothing but a bitter, desperate old man who can’t stand the fact that other people are allowed to be happy, who tells himself he doesn’t need emotional attachments to cope with the fact that nobody wants to be around someone so objectively unpleasant, who unrepentantly uses people as means to an end with no thought of how it could affect them years down the line. If anyone here lacks a human heart, it’s you.”

“Don’t try to sound clever, dear,” Ghetsis says condescendingly. “You’ll only embarrass yourself. Just stand there and look pretty, there’s a good boy.”

Cheren sputters indignantly and moves to reply, but he feels a hand grab his wrist and turns instead to look up at Alder.

“Don’t bother,” Alder says in an undertone. “You might as well have an argument with that pillar for all the good it’ll do. Let’s just take him down to the police, and forget he ever existed, alright?”

Cheren makes a vague noise of acquiescence and watches impassively as Alder drags Ghetsis to his feet and leads him to the exit, ignoring all the vitriol and taunts as the desperate rantings of… well, of someone without much left to him besides words. After a last glance at Touya and N, who are both clearly eager to be left alone — Touya actually makes a shooing motion with his hand behind N’s back — Cheren follows after them. If nothing else, his being there might give Alder a break from constant insults.

“Well, obviously I’ve never chosen mine for their intellectual prowess, but I have to say, I rather thought _you_ were above picking decorative young lovers,” Ghetsis drawls lazily as Cheren rounds the corner. “Although, I suppose it’s not too difficult to find people more intelligent than you, now is it? Whereas for some of us…”

Cheren locks eyes with Alder and they share a significant look. This can’t take _too_ long… right?

“But you always were a good boy, weren’t you?” Ghetsis says pleasantly, patting Alder on the arm, who twitches violently and takes a giant step backwards. Ghetsis chuckles knowingly, continuing down the hallway. 

Cheren frowns and quickly moves to catch up. Ghetsis isn’t getting out of prison that easily.

“Oh, what do you want, child?” he sighs. He stops and gives Cheren a once-over. “You’re, what, all of fifteen?”

“Eighteen,” Cheren corrects him. “And you’d be, what, sixty? But I suppose you might have had some work done.”

“Baby boy wants to play,” Ghetsis says disdainfully, raising an eyebrow. “How… cute.”

He scoffs, rolling his eyes. “All I care about is making sure you end up in police custody. You don’t know enough about me to mess with my head, and frankly, I don’t care enough about you to take any of your nonsense seriously.”

“Perhaps not,” he says, casually continuing down the hall, “but I’m afraid the same cannot be said for your… what term shall we use? Your paramour? I’m quite capable of playing him like the cheap kazoo he is.”

“Yes,” Cheren says pleasantly as he follows, “which is why I’m up here and he’s back there.”

“Oh no, whatever shall I do,” Ghetsis deadpans. “I’ve been outsmarted by a twelve year old.” 

“Clearly, otherwise you’d be doing something about it rather than taking cheap shots at my age.”

“Oh, I assure you, I would continue to insult you regardless of the situation.”

Cheren shrugs. “Well, whatever brings you joy. And if proving me right brings you joy…”

Ghetsis pauses for a moment and looks at him with a neutral expression. “Hm.” He wraps himself in his robe and turns toward one of the holes in the castle wall. “Causing millions of dollars worth of property damage to the Unovan Pokémon League complex certainly brought me some joy.”

“Of course it did,” Cheren mutters under his breath.

“But,” Ghetsis says abruptly, snapping his fingers, “do you know what would bring me even more joy?”

“Oh, gosh, I don’t know,” Cheren says sarcastically, slapping reflexively at a sharp bite on his neck. Shouldn’t all the bugs have gone into hibernation by now? “A dictatorship?”

“Don't be ridiculous,” he sniffs, continuing to the exit. “I would have been an _emperor_.”

Of course. He rolls his eyes and follows, thinking about how he never has to see this man again after tonight. Or this morning? He's not really sure what time it is. It's definitely late, though. He can barely keep his eyes open. Or stay… standing… 

He's vaguely aware of someone shouting, of rapid footsteps, but he doesn't know where it's coming from. Everything sounds like it's underwater. He can't muster the energy to open his eyes. 

He feels a hand on his face, and he knows no more.

**Author's Note:**

> 1) Fun fact, I did actually run the numbers regarding vanilluxe’s chances against Zekrom. Assuming Alder put all his EVs into special attack and speed, he could get exactly one hit off; the question was, does he use a focus sash in hopes of a second hit, or an expert belt to boost the power of said attack? He’s got a STAB ice attack going against its weaker defensive stat, and his PWT team seems to indicate a preference for power-boosting items, so my guess is: he assumed N didn't bother EV training, went for the belt, and was praying for a critical hit to one-shot it. (He got the hit, but not the crit, obviously. Also, I keep imagining their battle with the bullshit amie/refresh bonuses from 6th and 7th gen. Solaris “toughing it out to show its best side” and landing crits left and right to “make its trainer happy” and dodging like every attack. It would be hilarious. Which is why I predict the mechanic won’t come back in gen 8, because it would play havoc with the entire plot of the game. [i.e., Alder apparently holding the idiot ball in the battle against N; even limited to two healing items, it’s hardly impossible to beat N’s team with his.] How would they even make the gen 5 plot work with objective proof that friendship with humans makes pokémon stronger and happy? What's the mega-evo-’verse version of Unova going to look like? I’m dying to know!
> 
> 2) I feel like it says something about me that it took me longer to write the end-of-the-world makeouts section than it did the entire subsequent Keeping Up With The Harmonias/battle section. 
> 
> 3) I know, I know, Ghetsis’ hydreigon doesn't actually have a life orb until the sequel. To which I ask: why the hell not? Why does nobody use held items in the main game (except Cheren, who I always steal leftovers from), and not use them sensibly until the sequel? GAAAAAAAAMEFREEEEEEEEAK! *shakes fist in annoyance*
> 
> 4) Regarding the name of Cheren’s haxorus: I’m sticking to my theme regarding his pokémon’s names, and some intense googling gave me the name/nickname Sese, which apparently means ‘the vanquisher’. I thought it was reasonably appropriate. Also, I chose to give him his haxorus over his gigalith largely because, if he has time to train up one additional team member, it wouldn't have made sense for him to pick the one that could get one-shotted by two of the e4 members. Haxorus might not have a type advantage over any of them, but they have a reasonably diverse movepool and can wreck some serious shit. (Also, because my haxorus was and is one of my bestest bros in Black.)
> 
> 5) I WISH I KNEW WHERE THE CHEAP KAZOO THING ORIGINALLY CAME FROM but I saw it on a tumblr post a while back and my immediate thought was “okay, but Ghetsis would absolutely say that”.


End file.
